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Author Biography

Ken O'Connor is a former Curriculum Coordinator with the Scarborough Board of Education in Ontario, Canada. He is an expert on grading and reporting with a particular emphasis on using these techniques to improve student achievement through student involvement. With over twenty years of teaching experience in secondary schools in Australia and Ontario, he has presented hundreds of workshops for teachers at every grade level, and is the author of the very successful How to Grade for Learning.

Table of Contents

Preface

p. xi

Setting the Stage

p. 1

Key Definitions

p. 6

Purpose(s) for Grades

p. 6

Underpinning Issues

p. 7

Fairness

p. 7

Motivation

p. 8

Objectivity and Professional Judgment

p. 11

Student Involvement

p. 12

The 15 Fixes

p. 12

Fixes for Practices That Distort Achievement

p. 15

Don't include student behaviors (effort, participation, adherence to class rules, etc.) in grades; include only achievement

p. 16

Student Involvement

p. 20

Summary

p. 22

Teacher Vignette

p. 22

Policy Example

p. 23

Don't reduce marks on "work" submitted late; provide support for the learner

p. 24

Student Involvement

p. 27

Summary

p. 27

Teacher Vignette

p. 28

Policy Example

p. 30

Don't give points for extra credit or use bonus points; seek only evidence that more work has resulted in a higher level of achievement

Don't assign grades based on a student's achievement compared to other students; compare each student's performance to preset standards

p. 79

Summary

p. 80

Teacher Vignette

p. 81

Policy Example

p. 81

Don't rely on evidence gathered using assessments that fail to meet standards of quality; rely only on quality assessments

p. 82

Summary

p. 85

Teacher Vignette

p. 86

Policy Example

p. 88

Fixes for Inappropriate Grade Calculation

p. 89

Don't rely only on the mean; consider other measures of central tendency and use professional judgment

p. 90

Summary

p. 93

Teacher Vignette

p. 93

Policy Example

p. 94

Don't include zeros in grade determination when evidence is missing or as punishment, use alternatives, such as reassessing to determine real achievement, or use "I" for Incomplete or Insufficient Evidence

p. 95

Student Involvement

p. 100

Summary

p. 101

Teacher Vignette

p. 102

Policy Example

p. 103

Fixes to Support Learning

p. 105

Don't use information from formative assessments and practice to determine grades; use only summative evidence

p. 106

Student Involvement

p. 114

Summary

p. 115

Teacher Vignette

p. 115

Policy Examples

p. 117

Don't summarize evidence accumulated over time when learning is developmental and will grow with time and repeated opportunities; in those instances, emphasize more recent achievement

p. 120

Summary

p. 122

Teacher Vignette

p. 124

Policy Example

p. 125

Don't leave students out of the grading process. Involve students; they can-and should-play key roles in assessment and grading that promote achievement